{News and Views} The importance of eating seasonal, even in the winter

It’s the start of September and we are starting to feel the change of the seasons. Gone are the days when the fruits and vegetables of the summer season are abundant. We know it’s best to eat ‘seasonally’ but what does it mean and how do we eat seasonal foods in the winter?

What is seasonal eating?

That can be a tricky question. Unlike the term, “organic”, there are no set standards or regulations that govern the term “seasonal”. An orange harvested in Florida in the winter can be termed ‘seasonal’. But when you don’t live in Florida, it is not the most sustainable food to eat since orange needs to be transported to your local market, even if it’s considered a seasonal.

Therefore, eating seasonally may not be as easy as, say, eating locally. That’s not to say you shouldn’t treat yourself to that nice organic orange. But optimally, it’s best to spend most of your food dollars locally. So, eating foods that are at their freshest from local sources would be the simplest answer to what eating seasonally is.

Why eat seasonally?

There are many reasons to eat the best and freshest food you can. Let’s see why we should strive to eat seasonally.

Better for the environment – the health of the planet is our health. Eating foods grown close to home during their natural growing seasons reduces the carbon dioxide emissions produced by eating foods out of season that are shipped in from halfway around the world.

Food Safety and Sustainability – when you rely on food shipped from far away your food source, it is oil dependent, and drastically affects food security and sustainability.

Less chemicals – with elimination of long distance transportation, freshness is not an issue and there’s less need for chemicals to keep the foods fresh.

Know thy farmer – buying local foods gives you the ability to visit the farms where your food is grown. It gives you the ability to ask questions about the processes used to produce the food. You can see the conditions and treatment of the animals that are being raised – something you don’t get to see at a feed lot fifteen hundred miles away, if you don’t buy locally.

Healthier crop – plants and animals that are allowed to develop naturally are stronger than those forced into unnatural situations or raised to be aesthetically pleasing and picked before ripe. The plants raised in natural conditions in accordance with the season need fewer pesticides and fertilizers. Animals raised with the same seasonal considerations need fewer antibiotics. It may seem strange but different meats have different seasons.

Support smaller local farms – buying seasonal also means you are supporting small family farms. They, in turn, can support local economy. When you give your money to big agriculture, it further perpetuates the the use of chemicals and the acquisition of land. What once may have been a piece of property owned by an independent multi-generational farmer, may become a large animal lot, ripe with the unpleasant smells of big operations bring. Investing in local food sources that are independently run returns the control of our food economy to the consumer and the effectiveness of corporate monopolies to control our food security is weakened.

Less processed – since buying local and seasonal food means it doesn’t have to travel far, it needs less processing and packaging. That also means, less waste, with less impact on the already burgeoning landfill problem.

What about winter when nothing is growing?

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere that has a year round growing season, the availability of fresh foods all year round can be something easily taken for granted. If, however, you live in a place with four seasons with harsh winters, it can be a little harder to eat seasonally.

When nothing is growing outside what do you do?

You can plan ahead and learn the tricks of food preservation. There is still enough time to stock your pantry, cupboards, attics and basements in preparation for winter. Obviously, it would be great to store foods that do not need processing, like winter squashes and apples. But some foods need processing to preserve them for the winter. Dehydrating, canning, pickling and fermenting are all great ways to preserve the summer (and fall) bounty and preserve them to last the winter.

There are many ways to still obtain food in the winter without having to resort to foods shipped from other side of the globe. Having things stocked and preserved are great ways to eat ‘seasonally’ and locally, even when nothing is growing in your garden.

There is something very gratifying about knowing where your food comes from and that you are able to meet your needs, especially in the challenging months of winter.

What type of foods do you eat seasonally during this time of the year? What are you preserving for this winter?

Comments

Thanks for the fabulous article – great reminders!!! I’ve been drying our amazing & abundant gravenstein apples this fall. Planning to make apple butter & applesauce as well. We use applesauce in all of our baking to reduce the amount of oil (olive oil – never butter, margarine or any other oils) that we use. It makes for the best substitute!!! Enjoy the Fall bounty everyone.

Applesauce is an amazing little bakers secret. I use it some things as well. I am not a vegetarian so I am ok using butter. If anyone else is also ok with animal products another great bakers secret is mayonnaise. It makes the fluffiest cakes you ever put in your mouth. I have never tried the vegetarian mayo for this but if anyone does let us know if it worked for you. Oh and you use it in place of the eggs in the recipe so if you are vegetarian and use the veg. friendly mayo, it can replace eggs. If it works out that is.

Oh lovely! Tomatoes are the world’s most perfect food. At least to me. I have loved them since childhood. One of my fondest memories is eating them right off the vines. My grandfather would have a salt shaker in his pocket and we would stand in the garden eating fresh tomatoes. Thank you for the recipes.

This is the first summer where I haven’t grown a garden or canned anything, but I’m always working to visit farmer’s markets and eat seasonal. Before fall is over, I’m hoping to get some apples to make applesauce with and this winter to visit a new indoor farmer’s market I’ve heard of in a nearby town.

We go to a pick your own orchard every year. Last year we bought 64 pounds of apples and had them from october to mid march. This year I’m going to make applesauce as well. Let us know how it turns out. The indoor market sounds great as well.

Absolutely Awesome Article!!! I think people get tired of hearing me talk about stuff like sustainability, but being “able to sustain” seems like a pretty important thing! Thanks for stuffing the article with other terrifics EcoEtsy articles! In perfect time for Fall!!

Excellent article! We in Vermont even have CSA’s that are locavore all year! It is so important to buy local in all that you can! I know that even folks who buy my items are benefiting since I then use my funds to purchase locally grown foods which in turn help the farmers and local businesses!